On average, I receive fifty press releases each day. On top of that, I receive an additional 100 correspondences. My inbox is a disaster area. I have over 300 unread emails in my inbox from the past ten days and it’s likely that eighty percent of those are press releases. The question is: why do I read only some, and not all, of these press releases? Read More
Even for the best publicists, booking a client onto a talk show on a day’s notice is a rarity. Just as great visuals are important when pitching TV producers for an interview, so too is providing leeway to consider your proposal. Giving the producer — and yourself — enough lead time to schedule an interview which will coincide with your event or publicity tour will help meet those objectives, and create a positive rapport for future dealings. Read More
We all know that public relations is the best thing since sliced bread, right? As PR pros we become a little isolated from the rest of the world and think nobody could ever doubt the power of what we’re doing. Read More
Thanks to the internet and social media, news spreads faster than ever before. Something that happened a day ago or even a few hours ago is already considered “old news” and no longer generates much interest as people have probably already moved on to something else. Timeliness is everything in today’s news world, and that’s a point you must remember when writing your press releases. Read More
Remember years ago when you would search for something and come across a website riddled with nonsense words everywhere? Those Wild West days of SEO are thought of with a quiet laugh and a roll of the eyes. Those websites were never pretty and often full of junk and even viruses, but they always seemed to pop up top. Read More
When most people think of people working in PR they imagine someone with a Bluetooth device in their ear, a latte in one hand, a tablet/phablet in the other, and driving downtown in the big city with music blaring. While some of that is undoubtedly true (where’s my phablet and latte?), it’s not the case for a large portion of the PR world. Read More
Does writer’s block really exist? Personally I’ve never experienced it. While this sounds like bragging it could be dumb luck – after all, most writers who talk about writer’s block have been around for some time and experienced it, so it’s not like I’m special. However, even when I’ve been faced with the real prospect of having a huge brain meltdown I’ve managed to push through and finish it. Read More
You know what blogging is, but do you know the difference between macro and micro blogging? While it seems like it’s just about the size of the message, there’s much more to it than that. The types of messages and what they convey about your business can vary quite a bit depending on the medium used. Read More
Many words have been typed about the beginning of a press release. And it’s true; making a first impression is vital to making it into a newspaper or magazine or anywhere else. If you don’t knock their socks off right away they’ll simply move on to the next press release. Read More
Newbie or old pro – nobody is safe from making the occasional blunder. And this happens all the time on press releases. There are so many elements and so many things could go wrong that even the best in the business slip up and make goofy errors. Read More